AirTag security notifications are now more difficult to evade.
With the newest iOS 15.4 beta, Apple has began the process of making AirTag trackers more secure by implementing the first group of modifications it had promised.
MacRumors reports that the most visible change is a new pop-up that displays during the AirTag setup procedure. When a stalker victim or the police find out about your AirTag, it exposes your Apple ID profile image and e-mail address, and notifies you that using these tags is illegal in many countries.
Item Safety Alerts can no longer be turned off, but they may still be customised in how they look. This implies that even if you manage to get access to someone’s iPhone, you can’t compel them to ignore these notifications.
The AirPods are now correctly recognised in the Find My app, as are other Find My compatible devices. If a user receives an alert, this should make it clearer to them whether or not they need to take action.
There have been several reports of Apple’s AirTags being used to stalk people, thus these modifications are a welcome first step. Apple has plans to tighten up AirTag’s anti-stalking mechanisms, but more has to be done to make it genuinely tough to use surreptitiously or maliciously while making it effective for harmless reasons. These include making the AirTag’s built-in speakers louder, offering Precision Finding for unknown AirTags, and software upgrades that will enable the detection of malicious AirTags to be done more quickly. –
Siri also has a new fifth American English voice, which is also worth noting in this beta. The long-awaited Universal Control feature, which allows you to navigate between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac with a single keyboard and mouse, and an upgrade to Face ID, which allows you to use it while wearing a mask, were also included in prior iOS 15.4 betas.
If you’d want to check them out right now, you may do so by becoming a developer and downloading the beta. Our advice is to avoid using beta software on your primary devices until Apple publishes an iOS 15.4 public beta.